You Held Your Breath and the Door for Me
by xxLittle Black Dressxx
Summary: Progression of Addison and Jake's relationship set to Alanis Morissette's "Head over Feet."


A/N: I really like the idea of Addison and Jake. He just seems like such a nice guy, and their scenes together just keep getting better and better. I really hope they get together on the show. But a warning to other Addison/Jake fans – couples that I like don't usually make it. So here's to hoping that this story reflects things to come on the show. I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for reading, and reviews are always appreciated!

* * *

**You Held Your Breath and the Door for Me**

_I had no choice but to hear you.  
You stated your case time and again.  
I thought about it._

"Hey, Addison," Jake smiled, as he walked into her office. "I was just wondering if you felt like getting a drink with me in fifteen minutes or so."

Addison looked up from her paperwork. "Any particular reason?" she asked curiously.

Jake shrugged. "It's Friday and it's almost 5, and I don't know about you, but I've had a long week. I could use a drink."

Addison nodded. "And you're inviting me because you think I could use a drink too?"

"Well, partially," Jake admitted. "But also because nobody likes drinking alone."

"There are other people in the practice," Addison pointed out. "You could have invited one of them."

"Actually, I couldn't," Jake smirked. "I mean, Charlotte and Amelia are great, but they don't drink. And I like Violet, but I'm in the mood to relax, and somehow her gossiping isn't exactly conducive to that."

"What about the guys?" Addison asked.

Jake sighed and shook his head in amusement. "I've had enough guys' nights with them to last me a lifetime. So that kind of just leaves you."

"So, I was your last choice?" Addison asked. "I was your safety school?"

"Nope. You were my first choice. My Yale, if you will. But since-"

"How did you know I went to-"

"You were wearing a Yale sweatshirt the first time we met," Jake cut in. "So, can we just skip the part where you argue with me, and get to the part where we go for a drink?"

"How do you know I'm going yes?" Addison challenged.

"You usually do," Jake smirked. "I work at the practice, I'm your doctor, you scrubbed in on Nina's risky surgery. Need I go on?"

"I didn't go to Fiji with you," Addison shot back.

"And that really hurt," Jake said, pretending to be wounded. "You owe me a drink."

Addison laughed in spite of herself. "Fine," she conceded. "One drink."

_You treat me like I'm a princess.  
I'm not used to liking that.  
You ask how my day was.  
_

One drink quickly turned into two; and two drinks turned into dinner; and, over time, dinners together turned into dates.

"You're different," Addison mused to Jake over dinner one night. She had just finished telling him about the conjoined twins that she had delivered and operated on, and he was hanging on to her every word. "You ask how my day was."

Jake shrugged. "I'm interested."

Addison shook her head. "You care about me," she said softly. "I'm not used to that."

"Addison," Jake said gently. "Of course I care about you. But I'm not the only one who does."

"No, I know that," Addison insisted. "But it's different with you."

Jake looked at her in confusion. "How so?"

"With you, there's nobody else. I mean, Derek cared about me, but he still chose Meredith. And Mark chose Lexi over me. And Alex chose Ava. And Pete chose Violet. And Sam chose Sam. But you…I think you're different."

Jake reached across the table and took her hand in his. "I think you're different too," he said softly.

Addison smiled. "You say that now," she teased, "but I'm sure if we wait around long enough, another Grey sister will pop up, and-"

"Another Grey sister?" Jake chuckled. "What does that even mean?"

"I lost Derek to Meredith Grey, and Mark to Lexi Grey. They're sisters…well, step- sisters, actually. But you see my point."

Jake shook his head. "I don't want a Grey sister. I don't want Violet. And I can assure you, I definitely don't want Sam. I want you. I don't want anyone else."

Addison smiled widely. "I don't want anyone else either."

_You've already won me over in spite of me.  
And don't be alarmed if I fall head over feet.  
Don't be surprised if I love you for all that you are.  
I couldn't help it;  
It's all your fault.  
_

"I don't want anyone else to know we're going away this weekend," Addison murmured, as she and Jake lay on the couch together, wrapped in each other's arms.

"Why not?" Jake asked in surprise, running his hand through her hair. "What if someone needs us?"

Addison kissed him softly. "They won't," she assured him. "And if we tell everyone that we have a big, romantic weekend-getaway planned, they're gonna want details. And I don't want to give them details," she murmured against his lips. "I want this weekend to just be about us."

Jake kissed her and smiled. "I think I could get behind that."

And so Friday, after work, Addison and Jake drove to Palms Springs for a romantic weekend together. They had barely made it into the hotel elevator before they began making out heatedly.

"Mm, I've been looking forward to this all week," Addison gasped between kisses.

"Mm, me too," Jake breathed. "Today couldn't come fast enough."

Still kissing passionately, they fumbled their way off the elevator, towards their hotel room, breaking apart just long enough for Jake to open the door to their room, before resuming their frantic make-out session.

"I want you," Addison murmured against Jake's lips, as they maneuvered their way over to the king-sized bed in the center of the room. Jake eased Addison onto the bed, and with a seductive smile, Addison grabbed the collar of Jake's shirt and pulled him on top of her. They continued to kiss passionately, as she fumbled to unbutton his shirt, before peeling it off his shoulders and down his arms. She began trailing light kisses down his bare chest and began working on removing his pants, while he worked on unzipping her dress, both unable to undress each other fast enough.

The sex was frantic and urgent and passionate – a change for them. Being the old-fashioned gentleman that he was, Jake preferred slower, more intense sex. He wasn't into hard and fast – that was just fucking. And he wasn't that type of guy. And he didn't want Addison to think that he saw her as that type of woman either. So she was surprised that they had hard, desperate sex in their romantic hotel room.

When she asked him about it, afterwards, he gave her a warm smile. "It's different with you," he explained. "With other women…when I dated other women, hard and fast sex meant one thing and slow, intimate sex meant another. But, with you, it's different. Because I love you. So it doesn't matter what type of sex we have, because I love you. And that's what matters."

Addison smiled. "Hey, Jake?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you too."

_Your love is thick and it swallowed me whole.  
You're so much braver than I gave you credit for.  
That's not lip service.  
_

"She's going to love you," Jake assured Addison, taking his right hand off the steering wheel and squeezing her thigh reassuringly.

Addison looked at him from the passenger's seat of the car. "I don't know," she said, unconvinced.

"Please," Jake insisted. "What's not to love?"

Addison shrugged. "You could ask Derek's mother. I bet she has a whole list for you."

"I think I'll pass," Jake chuckled. "And I'm willing to bet that Angela is very different from Derek's mother. Besides, you technically already met Ang."

"I'd hardly say that those two seconds by the reception desk at the practice counts as a meeting," Addison countered.

"That's why we're having lunch today," Jake shot back smugly. "So she can meet you…and so I can meet Ethan," he added dryly.

"Hmm, seems like I'm not the only one who's a little nervous about lunch today," Addison assessed knowingly.

"You have no reason to be nervous," Jake reassured her. "I…well, this Ethan better be something special."

"I'm sure he is," Addison laughed.

"He better be."

Addison shook her head in amusement; she kind of loved how protective Jake was over his daughter. "Ethan should be nervous," Addison said with a laugh.

A slow smile spread across Jake's face. "Ethan should definitely be nervous," he agreed.

Addison looked over at her boyfriend and smiled. "You're amazing, you know that?"

"Why? Because I agreed to go on a double date with my eighteen-year-old daughter and her boyfriend?" Jake chuckled.

Addison shook her head. "You're a good father, Jake. You're a good father in a situation where you don't have to be a good father. You don't know how many men would just say, 'Fuck it,' if they were in a situation like yours."

"But I'm not most men," Jake pointed out.

"I know," Addison smiled. "That's one of the reasons I'm with you."

_You've already won me over in spite of me.  
And don't be alarmed if I fall head over feet.  
Don't be surprised if I love you for all that you are.  
I couldn't help it;  
It's all your fault.  
_

"I'm glad you came with my dad to lunch today," Angela smiled, as she joined Addison, who was reapplying her lipstick in front of the mirror, in restaurant's fancy restroom. "It made the whole introduction between Ethan and my dad a lot less awkward."

Addison smiled at Angela in the mirror. "Hey, I was happy to come," Addison said. "And all things considered, I think everything went pretty well."

Angela nodded, reached in her purse, and pulled out a lipstick. "I think Ethan being a pre-med student did a lot to help his cause."

"Ethan's very impressive," Addison agreed. She turned to meet Angela's eyes. "So are you."

"Thanks," Angela smiled, placing her lipstick back in her bag. "You're impressive too. Although, you already won me over…even before I met you."

Addison raised an eyebrow. "Really? Why's that?"

Angela shrugged. "You make Jake happy. I don't think I've ever seen him this happy before. I mean, he's dated other women since my mom, but you're the first one he ever told me about. You're the only one he's ever introduced me to. He's head over feet in love with you. How could I not like you?"

Addison couldn't help smiling at how readily Angela had accepted her. "Thanks, Angela. That, uh, that really means a lot to me."

Angela returned Addison's smile. "You mean a lot to my dad. It's nice to see him happy again so, if anything, I should be the one thanking you."

_You are the bearer of unconditional things.  
You held your breath and the door for me.  
Thanks for your patience.  
_

"I should be thanking you?" Jake demanded angrily. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Trust me, Jake," Addison insisted, blinking back the tears in her eyes, "It's better to end things now before we get in too deep."

Jake swallowed hard, unable to wrap his head around the conversation that they were having. "But I'm already in too deep, Addison. I don't get it. Things between us are good…hell, things between us are great. Why do you want to put an end to something really good?"

Addison sighed. "Because I ruin relationships. I ruin men."

"Addison."

"No, it's true. Amelia was right. Poor Derek. Poor Mark."

"Ad-"

"And you know what; I'm probably responsible for ruining Sam too. I mean-"

"Addison, that's not true. None of that is even remotely close to true. Amelia didn't mean any of that, and you know it."

"Come on, Jake, you're not such an optimist that you can't recognize the moments of truth in what Amelia said to me…even if she didn't mean every word of what she said...she still meant some of it."

"But she told you she didn't. And call me an optimist, but I believe her."

Addison sighed. "I know she didn't mean every word of what she said, but she had point. I ruin men. I ruined Derek and I ruined Mark and I ruined Sam…I just, I don't want to ruin you too."

"Addison," Jake said softly, "you're not going to ruin me. And you didn't ruin Derek or Mark or Sam. You know as well as anyone that it takes two people for a relationship to fall apart."

Addison shrugged. "I don't know. I just, I think you should get out while you can. I mean, you're amazing. You're kind and you're charming and attractive, and you're patient, and you always hold the door for me. And, well, I'm a cheater, who can't have kids, and I-"

"Addison," Jake interrupted, "we're not playing this game. You and I are equals, so stop putting me on a pedestal, and stop putting yourself down, because you and I both know that you're not the woman you just described."

Addison raised an eyebrow, unconvinced.

"You know you're not," Jake insisted. "You're the woman I fell in love with. You're the woman I could buy a house with. You're the woman I could make a baby with…in a test-tube or…however. I want to be with you, Addison."

"Even if I ruin you?"

Jake shook his head. "You're not going to ruin me. Trust me, if anything, you've fixed me."

Addison smiled. "You fixed me too," she said softly. "I mean, I was a mess before I met you. I think I'll always be a little screwed up, but-"

"But I like that about you," Jake finished. "I'm not looking for perfect. I'm not even looking for perfect for me. Perfect isn't real. And I want real. I love you, Addison, and I want to be with you."

"I want to be with you too," Addison smiled. "And I'm not gonna screw this relationship up."

"Hey, it takes two people to screw up a relationship," Jake pointed out. "So we're in this together."

"Well, I'm going all in then."

Jake smiled widely. "I was hoping you'd say that."

_You're the best listener that I've ever met.  
You're my best friend —  
__Best friend with benefits.  
What took me so long?  
_

"Addison, whatever it is, you can say it to me," Jake said gently.

Addison nodded emphatically. "This was so much easier the last time," she muttered to herself.

"Excuse me?" Jake asked.

"Uh, nothing," Addison said quickly.

"Addison," Jake chuckled. "What is it?"

Addison met Jake's eyes and smiled; she knew she could do this. Moving closer to him on his leather couch, she took his hands in hers. "Jake, I've never met anyone like you. Even when we didn't know each other very well, you were the only person I felt I could confide in. I wanted to say things to you that I couldn't say to anyone else, which at the time, felt weird, but now, it makes perfect sense. You understand me…and we want the same things, and my life has been so much happier since I met you. You're my best friend, and I wish it hadn't taken me so long to realize that I wanted to be with you. But I realize it now, and I, well, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And I know that you're old-fashioned and probably think a man should propose to a woman, but I don't care…I want to be married to you, no matter how it happens."

Jake grinned widely, but said nothing.

"Okay," Addison breathed. "Now would be the time for you to say something back."

"Well, you never actually proposed to me," Jake pointed out smugly. "You kind of danced around it."

Addison shook her head in amusement and smiled. "Marry me, Jake?" she whispered, losing herself in his eyes.

"Yeah," Jake said softly, before wrapping his arms around her and kissing her passionately.

"I love you," Addison breathed when they broke apart.

"I love you too," Jake smiled.

"You're not mad that I robbed you out of a big, romantic proposal?" Addison asked hesitantly.

"Maybe a little," Jake admitted with a flirtatious smile. "But I'm sure you'll find a way to make it up to me."

"I think I can do that," Addison smiled before kissing Jake softly on the lips.

"Hey, what did you mean when you said that this was easier the last time?" Jake asked after a few minutes. "Did you propose to your ex-husband? Are proposals your thing or something?"

Addison shook her head. "I proposed to Sam," she admitted. "But it was different," she added quickly, when she felt Jake stiffen.

"Different how?" he asked hesitantly.

"When I proposed to Sam, I didn't mean it. I didn't really want to marry him. I just proposed because my friend Naomi said that I wasn't capable of staying in a committed relationship…so I proposed to Sam to prove her wrong. And obviously that's a recipe for disaster. Sam didn't say yes, and I took my proposal back a day later…because you don't propose to someone because you're in a bad place or because you want to prove a naysayer wrong."

"So why did you propose to me?" Jake asked.

Addison smiled. "Because you and me, we're in a really good place, and I can't imagine a life without you in it. This time, it wasn't about proving people wrong…it was about doing what feels right. And you and me, we're right."

Jake smiled, and kissed Addison gently. "Hey, Addison," he murmured.

"Yeah?"

"Let's go pick out a ring for you."

_I've never felt this healthy before.  
I've never wanted something rational.  
I am aware now.  
I am aware now.  
_

"With this ring as a token of my love and affection, I thee wed."

It was a beautiful wedding. It was a simple wedding, but a beautiful wedding, nonetheless. They had both done the big church wedding before, and neither wanted that again, so they flew to Fiji – took the trip that they were supposed to take together when they first met, and got married on the beach.

"You know," Addison smiled, as she and Jake laid together, limbs intertwined, in their private cabana, a day after the wedding, "Fiji was worth the wait."

Jake smiled and kissed his wife gently. "The best things in life usually are."

"So I was worth the wait?" Addison asked Jake coyly.

Jake met Addison's eyes and gave her a soft smile. "You were definitely worth the wait."

_You've already won me over in spite of me.  
And don't be alarmed if I fall head over feet.  
Don't be surprised if I love you for all that you are.  
I couldn't help it;  
It's all your fault._

"You were definitely worth the wait," Addison whispered to the newborn in her arms. "You were so worth the wait."

Jake kissed Addison's temple gently and smiled down at his daughter. "She's really beautiful," he said softly.

Addison met Jake's eyes and returned his smiled. "She really is." She looked back at her daughter. "She looks like you. She has your hair."

Jake studied his daughter closely. "I don't know, she may have my hair, but I think she looks more like you," he disagreed. "She has your eyes and nose. And I think she's going to have your personality."

"Which is a good thing, right?" Addison asked, giving Jake a warning look.

"Hey, you just gave birth to our daughter," Jake chuckled, holding his hands up in surrender. "I don't think I'm allowed to give you a hard time about anything for a while."

Addison chuckled.

"You were incredible, though," Jake said softly. "Tough as nails. I hope she gets that from you."

"Thank you," Addison smiled. "It was weird being on this end of things. It must have been weird for you too," she added, remembering that, like her, Jake was used to being the doctor, and not the parent.

"It was," he agreed with a soft smile. "Like nothing I've ever experienced before."

Addison smiled. "Hey, uh, do you want to hold her again?"

"Of course," Jake grinned, gently taking his daughter from Addison, and cuddling her against his chest.

Addison smiled at the sight in front of her, almost positive that she had never loved Jake more than she did right now.

"Hey, Tess," Jake whispered to his daughter. "You're gorgeous, you know that? You're only a couple of hours old, and you've already won me over. You're clearly your mother's daughter in that regard." Jake turned to Addison. "She's going to have me wrapped around her little finger," he chuckled. "I still can't believe how adorable she is," he murmured, as he looked at his daughter lovingly.

After a few minutes, Tess began to get fussy. "I think she wants her mom," Jake said, gently placing their daughter into Addison's arms. "Yeah, you want your mom, don't you?" Jake grinned, as Tess began to settle down.

Addison smiled at Jake's use of the word, 'mom,' and Jake noticed.

"Mom fits you well," he smiled. "Not that there was ever any doubt in my mind."

"Hey, Jake," Addison said softly.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"For what?" Jake asked in confusion. "For giving you a baby? I promised you I would, didn't I?" he teased.

"You did," she agreed. "But you never promised to have a baby with me. You never promised to marry me. You never promised to be my best friend, or the best listener that I've ever met. You-"

"Addison," Jake said softly. "I wanted to have a baby with you, I wanted to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you. You won me over the moment I met you. And even though I knew you were the type of woman that I could fall in love with and buy a house with and make a baby with, I never imagined that we'd be this happy."

"I guess we're overachievers," Addison chuckled. "Kind of the story of our lives, huh?"

"Yeah," Jake agreed. "But I wouldn't have it any other way. I mean, look at Tess," Jake grinned, gently stroking his daughter's cheek. "We definitely overachieved with her. You and I both know that I don't believe in perfect, but Tess is pretty damn close."

Addison smiled adoringly at her daughter before leaning in and kissing Jake softly on the lips. "I love you, Jake," she murmured.

"I love you too," Jake whispered. "I'm head over feet in love with you."

Addison smiled at her husband's words. And even though she didn't believe in perfect either, with her daughter in her arms, and Jake's arms wrapped around her, she couldn't help but think that her life, at this moment, was pretty damn close.


End file.
